God worked in Paul’s life when he made Paul a pharisee. Being a pharisee made Paul very smart and familiar with the law. Paul also spoke many languages and had duel citizenship which helped him to travel and preach God’s word. God prepared Paul to help grow the kingdom of God and he is preparing me too. I haven’t really had a lot of super exciting things happen in my life. I really like music and I play a lot of instruments and God might use this to worship him. I am also good at writing/speaking about things which I think God could use.

Recently in bible class, me and a group of girls have been working on putting together a project about Christian persecution. We studied Christian persecution in Vietnam. A few things that stood out to me were: Christians get denied ID cards, receiving public services, and much more. They also are are imprisoned or even tortured to try to renounce their faith and convert them to government controlled religions. Christians in Vietnam are considered a threat to national security and they are often denied basic citizens rights. I am very proud of my groups slide. I worked very hard to make it clean and colorful. I had a good time doing things project and I thought it was a good experience.

What did you do for the Stephen project (ie. newspaper, comic, song, etc.)?

Me, Megan, Brinae, and Adelynn made a script and then acted it out. It is a video skit. I played a mean person who stoned Stephen, Adelynn was Stephen, and Megan and Brinae were narrators.

What did you do well on the project?  (or what are you proud of and what you want me to look at when I grade it?)

I thought I did a good job of making the script accurate. We also put a good amount of time and effort into it. We read the passage in one class, wrote the skit in one class, and we acted it out in one class.

How do you think you would feel if you were really observing this event?

I think I would be pretty upset. Because I am a Christian, I would probably be imagining them doing it to me too. I think It would really affect me in a bad way.

Re-read Acts 7:57-58. How would you feel towards Saul?

I think I would feel confused. There is a guy being stoned and all they think about is laying their coats at Sauls feet? I might be a little annoyed with him too.

What do you think encouraged these early Christians? In other words, why did the early Christians keep up the faith despite the persecution?

I think they knew Jesus had come and had seen everything he did. They were fully convinced that he would save him if they believed in and worshiped him, all they wanted was to help others see that Jesus is God.

So far in school I have enjoyed break and lunch, because we can take our masks off and eat food. I also like reading class because we read the Outsiders, which is a good book, and we can read a free choice book. In LA class I learned PBP(peanut butter point), it is pretty fun and it takes up class time so we can do less work. In school I am looking forward to the 8th grade play, fun night, and camp. I really hope we are able to do them all even with COVID.

This summer I did not do a lot. I was very happy because I got to sleep in, but sad because our vacation got canceled. I convinced my parents to buy me a volleyball net, so I did you that every once in a while. I also did a ton of reading. Some of my favorites that I read were: This is Where it ends, Wild Bird, and Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun is a new twilight book that came out this summer. I love twilight so I was very excited and got it the day it came out. It is the same as the first twilight book, but it is in Edwards perspective. I also got to hang out with friends a lot. Overall this summer was so relaxing and fun.

Part 1:

If I could freeze any moment, it would probably be when I´m outside laying on the hammock and it´s warm and sunny. I am able to hear the birds chirping and it is so peaceful.

Part 2:

God´s presence is comforting me right now because I have been really anxious lately to find out if I made worship team. 

1. What did you learn or think about the most this week from our theme “Psalms teach us to say, “Forgive me, Lord”. Was there a phrase from a Psalm that stood out? When did you stop this week to ask God for forgiveness? Respond with at least 5 complete sentences.
   I really liked the forgiveness song. It was cool to see other people’s point of view on something we were learning about. I asked forgiveness for bothering my sisters all the time. Today we are getting along much better, even though they were making fun of my drawings for reading class. They were very encouraging when I was worried about the worship team tryouts.

2. With forgiveness comes repentance. To “repent” literally means to change directions. After we ask forgiveness, receiving God’s grace can cause us to want to act differently than before–to repent. Tell a story about a time when you acted differently after asking for forgiveness. OR tell about something that you would like to do differently in order to better reflect God’s love. What happened? How did you feel? Use at least 5 complete sentences.
   I asked forgiveness for being mean to my sisters all the time. Now I am nicer to them and we can hang out without fighting all day. We are also interested in more of the same things lately as they have been getting older. I feel better about my relationship with my sisters because we are happier bein stuck in the same house now that we get along better. It has been nice to do stuff with them now.

3. Tell a story about something creative that you did this week. What happened? Who was a part of making it happen? Use at least 5 complete sentences.

This week I did lots of music practice and trying out different patterns on the piano, ukulele, and guitar. I was listening to a song on Spotify that I really liked so I decided to learn it on guitar. It has been really fun. I am now learning some new songs on piano and ukulele too because I had my lesson yesterday and I am really excited to try them, especially one I got for piano. I also was creative when I made my Social Studies journal. I took a small sketchbook and covered the front in duct tape. It looked pretty good, but… I realized that I had accidentally spelled journal wrong with sharpie!! I completely forgot to put the R in so it just said jounal. In the end, I was able to squeeze an R in there so it was okay, but I was really worried for a second there!

1. Did God speak to you clearly this week when choosing the possible theme? If so, describe what that was like. If you did not hear God’s voice, how did that make you feel? Did the Zoom on Tuesday make sense to you? Do you have any suggestions for the 8th-grade teachers on finding the theme during distance learning? Do you have any questions for the 8th-grade teachers?

When I was choosing a possible theme, I felt like God showed me where to find it. I found one of the verses I chose for a possible theme in Psalms, and that is one of my favorites. I thought that the zoom on Tuesday was really helpful and it was nice to see all my friends again.

2. Describe one gift or talent that you have that you could use to lead ZCS next year? Where and when could that gift be used at ZCS? For example, you might say that you like to organize so you could help Mr. Commeret organize the Lost and Found. You would do this by…

I would love to use music to help lead ZCS next year. I just submitted my praise and worship team application yesterday, so I really hope I am able to help that way. I love praising God by singing and playing music and chapel is one of my favorite places to do that. It would be really fun to be helping lead the school by doing what I love to do.

3. Listen to these songs and connect the song to “Listening to God” or this week’s search for a theme. What phrase stuck out to you? Why? You may comment one sentence on each song or you may do all three of your sentences with one song. You may find a song that I do not mention below that fits with “Listening to God” or our theme week and use that too.

I listened to Word of God Speak, I hadn´t heard it before but it was pretty good. It stuck out to me that he said, I don´t need to be heard, I need to hear you. I thought that connected to this weeks theme really well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef52AmdVwYI I’m Listening – Chris McClarney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SioPQc4mNWQ Word of God Speak – Mercy Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZI2gOBvBHk -God Speaking – Mandisa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rut8czkZU54 Sound of Your Voice – Third Day

Moses and the burning bush is a hope story. It is a hope story because it is when the Israelites first had a chance at getting out of Egypt. They were stuck there for so long and then finally God decided to give them a way out. When God told him what to do, Moses was a little scared but probably also hopeful that it would work. I think that when he first spoke to the Pharaoh, Moses gave the Israelites hope too. Even though they were scared that the Pharaoh would punish them for Moses’ actions the Israelites were probably more hopeful than they had been for a while. That is why I think that Moses and the burning bush is a hope story.

1. What did you learn or think about the most this week from our theme “The Psalms teach us to sing praise to God.” Was there a phrase from a Psalm that stood out? What praise do you sing to God right now? Respond with at least 5 complete sentences.
   I really liked this week’s theme because I like singing praise and worship to God, especially if I am singing with piano or ukulele. One verse that stood out was Psalm 100: 2. It says: Worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs. I like that verse because like I said, I really like to worship God by singing and music. Even though we aren’t supposed to go anywhere because of COVID 19 I am still having music lessons on FaceTime and I have been doing a lot of praise and worship songs. One song I am doing is “Who you say I am”. 
2. Tell a story about a time that was difficult this week. What happened? Were there things that comforted you at all? Use at least 5 complete sentences.
   One day this week there was a video on paraphrasing for LA, and I couldn’t get it to work. I was really frustrated and I downloaded it like 10 times but when I clicked on it in Files, it wasn’t working. Eventually, I got to it by using my phone instead. It was helpful to take a break and read my book for a little while. When I came back to it after my break I was able to see the issue with a fresh perspective. 
3. Tell a story about something this week that you were proud of. What happened? Who was a part of making it happen? Use at least 5 complete sentences.

This week, I was proud of getting 100% on my math quiz. I was really happy because it is harder to learn math without actually being there. Also, I wasn’t able to get on some of the first zooms for this unit so I was a little behind, but now I can get onto all the zooms which probably helped. It was really helpful when I emailed Mr. Keyser after missing the first zoom because he gave me a video recording so I could still watch it. Now, I think I am all caught up which is great.